Extremes
by Higuchimon
Summary: A day of snow, fun, friends, and ending it all with some hot chocolate. [minor alternate timeline]


_**Disclaimer:** The characters and situations here belong to Toei Entertainment. I am not making any profit off of this whatsoever.  
**Title:** Extremes  
**Focus:** Mimi and Yamato  
**Notes:** This takes place a few years after the defeat of BelialVamdemon, and ignores the 02 epilogue. There are a few mild references to Sora x Yamato, Mimi x Michael, and Ken x Daisuke. This was written for the Digimon Friendship Challenge._

"Wake up everyone! The snow's stopped! The sun's out! It's gorgeous out there!" 

Yamato opened his eyes, then closed them again with a groan. "Mimi, I promise when I kill Daisuke, I will make it quick and bloodless. Is that all right with you?" 

The answering mumble from the far side of the room sounded enough like a 'yes' to keep the blond happy as he snuggled back underneath his blankets. He knew how much Mimi hated having to get blood out of anything. She'd made it clear and plain after the last time a bunch of Digimon had jumped them and Taichi had wound up bleeding on a new white rug. 

"Oh, come on!" Daisuke bounced up and down, acting more as if he were five instead of fifteen. "It's gorgeous out there. Get up!" 

"Daisuke…" Ken's voice was quiet and slightly reproving. "Not all of us can survive off of three hours of sleep and be hyper." 

Yamato was not in the slightest surprised to see Daisuke quiet down at once. Ken had that effect on Daisuke. He yawned and closed his eyes once again, pulling the blanket over his head. He was not even close to being ready to get up yet. 

They'd been in New York for a week already, so the jet lag had long since dissipated. But they'd also spent most of the previous night playing cards and enjoying themselves into the wee hours, which meant it was far too early to get up right now. Unfortunately, Daisuke did not appear to share that belief. It couldn't be his age. Iori hadn't even moved from where he and Armadimon were snoring soundly a few feet away. 

He could feel a warmth at his back as well, and knew that was Gabumon. He yawned a little, and before he realized it, had drifted off into sleep again. 

When he woke all the way, Gabumon was still there, but he was almost the last one to wake up. Mimi had sat up in her blankets and was blinking around in the bleary-eyed confusion of the recently awakened. Palmon sat beside her, rubbing at her eyes, and both of them smiled as Yamato pulled himself up as well. 

"I think they're all gone," Mimi said, covering her mouth to conceal a deep yawn that broke her words apart as she did so. "Didn't Daisuke say something about snow?" 

Yamato nodded and got to his feet, moving carefully to avoid waking Gabumon up, then went over to the window. He tugged the curtain back and looked outside. "Yeah. There's got to be four or five inches out there." 

"Wouldn't be surprised." He could hear Mimi moving around some behind him. "I'm going to go take a shower. I'll be quick." 

He nodded slightly and continued to watch what was going on outside. Mimi's apartment building had a park attached to it, and the Tachikawa apartment itself was where he had a reasonably good view of it. All of the others were there, as far as he could tell, and he watched with a hint of amusement as Ken, Daisuke, and V-mon threw snowballs at the others, protecting themselves behind a well-made snow fort. 

New York was really different from Odaiba. Yamato liked having the vacation; with only a few more weeks remaining until he started at the culinary academy, he was enjoying what free time he had, and spending it here with a friend that none of them got to see as much as they would really like to was great. 

He didn't bother musing on that for very long, though. Watching the others mill about in the snow was a little too engrossing. Especially since Daisuke and Takeru had just teamed up to trip Taichi and bury him in the snow, rubbing as much of the white stuff in his thick hair as they possibly could. He was too far away to hear what they were doing, but his instincts said pretty clearly that they were all laughing. 

"That does look like fun!" Mimi chirped up from beside him, and he jumped quickly, eyes going wide. He had _not_ expected her to be out of the shower that quickly. She laughed at the look on his face. "What?" 

"I thought you were taking a shower!" 

"I did." Mimi shrugged, tossing a strand of slightly damp hair away from her shoulder. "I don't take very long showers." Her eyes gleamed brightly in amusement at him. "It's when I'm taking a bath that I take my time." 

Yamato decided he didn't need to know anything else about that. Dating Sora had taught him there were things that guys did not need to know about girls, be they girlfriends or just friends. "I'm going to get one myself, then," was all he said as he hurried out of the room. He thought he heard Mimi giggling to herself, but didn't stop to ask. That was something else that he didn't want to know about. 

As it turned out, he didn't take that much longer of a shower than Mimi herself had. He tried not to notice all of the girly things in the shower, either. It would have been bad enough with just Mimi's gear there, but since they had Miyako, Sora, and Hikari all sharing the apartment, it was even worse. Even he had only brought the minimum of two large bottles each of shampoo and conditioner. The girls had brought more. Much, much more, and most of it labeled as being some kind of fruity scent. 

By the time he came back out, Mimi had prepared a cup of coffee and stood where he'd been, watching the others. "That looks like a lot of fun," she said as he came over towards her. "Want to go?" 

"Sounds good to me," Yamato agreed casually, running his comb through his hair. Even when he was on vacation, he wanted to look his best. After all, you never knew when someone might jump out of the bushes and want pictures of the Chosen Children on vacation. It had happened before. 

Coffee really wasn't to his taste that early in the morning, but he poured himself a cup anyway, wanting to wake up a little more. He laced it with a little cream and sugar and went to join Mimi by the window. Gabumon and Palmon were already around on their own morning routines, chatting quietly with each other. This was the kind of relaxed morning that Yamato enjoyed. 

"When do you want to go down there?" Mimi asked, punctuated by a laugh as Hikari and Sora turned the tables on Daisuke and Takeru, pelting the two guys with swiftly flung snowballs that almost never missed their target. Both of them covered themselves with their arms the best that they could, but there wasn't much that they really _could_ do. 

"As soon as we're done here?" Yamato motioned briefly towards his cup of coffee, then hers. "Does it snow like this all the time?" 

"Well, no." Mimi grinned briefly at him. "It _usually_ lets up in the summer. Sometimes." 

Yamato rolled his eyes but didn't bother correcting her right now. Instead he sipped at his cup and began to make plans on which way they would go in order to ambush the others. A nice hard snowball on Taichi's back would be hilarious. From up here, it certainly looked as if the snow was perfect for almost any kind of winter sports. Was Iori actually making a snow angel? He was certain Gomamon was, not just because of how the aquatic Digimon was moving, but because of how Jyou was staring at him and laughing some. 

Mimi fluffed at her hair with her comb after finishing off the last of her coffee, then went to get her jacket. "So, I hear you're going to cooking school?" she asked, shrugging herself into it. 

"Right. I'd thought about a few other things…maybe trying for the space program or even going pro, but…" Yamato shrugged briefly and dismissed those dreams. Cooking might not be the most glamorous job in the world, but he did love to do it, and he was very good at it. 

"I've thought about that myself," Mimi said as she helped Palmon into her own little jacket. Fashions for Digimon were just coming _into_ fashion in the first place, and this was a very stylish outfit. Yamato was not at all surprised to see Palmon wearing it. "But I don't know if I'd be any good at it." 

"You won't know until you try," Yamato pointed out. He finished the last of his coffee and set the cup down in the sink. "There's probably some good schools around here, right?" 

Mimi nodded, still looking a little uncertain. But they both knew she had a little more time than he did to make up her mind on what she wanted to do with her life. Yamato pulled his jacket on, and glanced at Gabumon. 

"You want one?" Mimi had bought little jackets for all of them, but Gabumon shook his head. Yamato glanced outside a little, then back to his partner. "Are you sure about that? It's cold." 

"I'm fine, Yamato. My fur keeps the cold out." Gabumon promised him. Yamato nodded; Gabumon would know if he were cold or not, obviously. 

Very soon, the four of them were off tramping in the snow, taking an alternate route to the park that Mimi knew. After having lived here all of these years, the Chosen of Purity knew exactly how to get where she needed to go in nothing flat. Before very long, they stood on the far side of the park, and the laughter of all of their friends was clearly audible. Yamato slowly scooped up a handful of snow and began to pat it into shape. He could see Taichi very clearly from where he was, and the thought of nailing that huge head of hair was _very_ appealing. 

He could see Mimi doing the same thing from where she stood, though he didn't know if she were planning on targeting any one in particular. Koushirou and Miyako were also visible, and he wondered if one of them might be who she had in mind. Well, they'd soon find out. 

Once both of them had a small pile of snowballs and presumably they both had a target chosen, they exchanged a quiet, mischief-filled glance. Yamato jerked his head towards Taichi, and Mimi indicated Koushirou with a slight nod of her own. Both of their prospective victims were involved in throwing snowballs of their own, and neither one was paying as much attention to their backs as they probably should have been. 

Almost at the same moment, Mimi and Yamato let loose with their snow weapons, and both of them flew straight and true towards Taichi and Koushirou. Mimi's landed almost directly on the back of the redhead's jacket, while Yamato's splattered just where he'd wanted it to, on Taichi's spiky brown hair. 

What Taichi said as he turned to face this new threat wasn't really repeatable or printable, and Yamato almost wouldn't have been surprised if it had melted some of the snow just by the sheer force of it. 

Koushirou's response wasn't quite as vehement, but Mimi still laughed at it as he turned around to see what was going on. She dived for another snowball and this time her target was Miyako. That one didn't connect, since the purple-haired girl dodged out of the way just in the nick of time, and all Mimi did was laugh and reach for another snowball. 

"That's dirty tricks, Yamato!" Taichi declared even as he went for another batch of snow of his own. "Sneaking up on us! We were even talking about getting some pizza and surprising you two!" 

"I think you're the ones who got the surprise!" Yamato shot back, slinging a handful of snow at his best friend. There were others he could've targeted, but he wanted to make sure he caught up with his daily dose of annoying Taichi first. 

Without even realizing it, Mimi and Yamato found themselves back to back, with Gabumon and Palmon also taking part in the flinging of the snow. It had taken a while before the Digimon had really understood the concept of playing in the snow, but once they had, they'd taken to it just as quickly as the humans they were partnered to had. 

"Once we've won this," Yamato asked casually as he flung another few snowballs, "what do you think we should do?" 

"I've got some hot chocolate up in the cupboard," Mimi said, one gloved hand fumbling around for another snowball. "That would be really great after all of this." 

"Sounds good to me," Sora chimed in as she tossed a snowball that Mimi didn't quite properly dodge. "Does it have marshmallows?" 

Yamato laughed as a snowball from Taichi splattered firmly across his chin and halfway down his shirt, and he quickly wiped it away. "Mimi, I don't think they're going to give up any time soon!" 

"I think you're right!" 

"And so do I." Daisuke's voice came from behind_them_, and Yamato looked up just in time to get a full face of snow. As he clawed it out of his eyes, he saw Daisuke, Hikari, Takeru, and Ken were there, and a quick look around showed that he and Mimi had been rather neatly surrounded. Another brief glance down revealed that they were also all but out of ammunition. 

Both of them looked at each other, then asked in near perfect unison, "Why didn't you make more snowballs?" 

There was no chance whatsoever for either Mimi or Yamato to do anything else but fall down under the onslaught of snowballs that came from every side. With ten against two, the odds had been neatly turned, and soon all of them had collapsed in small heaps, trying hard not to laugh, and failing miserably. 

"I haven't had that much fun in forever." Yamato said, tossing a few stray bits of snow out of his hair. He was probably going to need to take another shower to get all of it out, but that wasn't exactly a hardship. 

A tired, but happy, chorus of agreements echoed him, and he sagged back, vaguely recognizing the fact he was leaning on Mimi. That reminded him of the hot chocolate she'd suggested, and the more he thought about it, the more appealing it sounded. But he didn't really want to get up right now. The snowball fight had taken more out of him than he'd thought at first. Even being in the generally excellent shape he was, he hadn't been that particularly _active_ in a while. 

"I think it's getting a little cold out here," Takeru said after they'd all been resting for several minutes. Yamato pushed himself to his feet before Takeru had actually finished what he was saying and reached over to help Mimi up as she started to slip away without his support. 

"You're right. Let's get inside and get some of that hot chocolate." He brushed off some snow first from himself, then from Takeru and Gabumon. "Besides, it's starting to cloud up again." 

Daisuke openly pouted all the way back up to the Tachikawa apartment, and Yamato enjoyed watching Ken try to reassure him that they could come out and play in the snow again some other time. He also didn't think he was fantasizing about seeing the slightly playful tilt to Daisuke's lips at every word Ken said. There was just something about that… 

On the other hand, the thought of hot chocolate with marshmallows was much more interesting than poking his nose into other people's love lives. "I'll help you make the hot chocolate, Mimi," he offered, a grin twitching at his own lips. "On the condition I get to have a cup first." 

Mimi's laugh was warm and amused even as she nodded. "All right. You've got yourself a deal." 

"No fair!" Taichi protested, shaking his wild head of hair. "You didn't even give the rest of us a chance!" 

"Not my fault that you didn't think of it first." Yamato retorted before reaching over to brush some of the snow that Taichi hadn't been able to get to out of his hair. "Next time start thinking ahead of time and maybe you'll get it first." 

Taichi was eighteen and he didn't pout anymore. Or at least that was what most people would've said. Yamato knew better, and not just because the brunet was pouting at him right at that very moment. He just knew Taichi too well to suspect him of _not_ pouting. 

Mimi laughed at the expression on Taichi's face and poked him briefly on the arm. "If you're a good boy, I might give you the first cup after Yamato and I have ours." 

The pout vanished so quickly from Taichi's face that it might well have been wiped off with a wet washcloth: or a snowball. Yamato managed to hold himself back from laughing, but it wasn't easy. He could hardly imagine how he and Mimi could have done that any better, not even if they'd set it up beforehand. _That's one of the perks of having known them all this long, I guess._

Try as he might, imagining his life without any of them in it wasn't something that he wanted to do. Each of them fit into a special part of his life that no one else could. Even Mimi, who he would've once said he didn't have a single thing in common with, beyond being a carbon-based life form, walking upright, and breathing oxygen, and if they _had_ discovered what they had in common, he probably wouldn't have cared in the first place. 

But they did have some things that they both liked. They both enjoyed music, though in different ways and for different reasons, and they both had an interest in cooking, though he was the one who was going to at least try to make his living at it. And they were both Chosen Children, which wiped away a lot of the differences that could have prevented them from being friends. Once you'd saved the world with someone, nothing else really mattered. 

Everyone stamped their boots clear of snow, or their paws, or whatever it was they had which had been propelling them through the weather, and searched for a comfortable place to sit down. The Tachikawas had turned over a large room in their apartment for the personal use of their visitors for the two weeks they were going to be there, and that was where they spent most of their time when they weren't out wandering either in the city itself or in the Digital World together. Yamato thought this was probably a dining room most of the time. The fact of an apartment having that much spare room for it still surprised him, even though he'd seen apartments now that were larger than what he and his dad lived in back in Odaiba. 

While everyone else made themselves comfortable, Mimi and Yamato headed into the kitchen, and the pink-haired girl started to get together what they needed for the hot chocolate. He helped, getting out the cups they were going to need. There were quite a few of them, since the Digimon were going to be included, and he arranged them neatly on two large trays. 

"When did you dye your hair pink again?" he wondered as he got them all set up properly. It had been that way since they'd arrived, but he hadn't really thought about asking until just now. 

"About a month ago," Mimi said. She set a big pot of water on to boil and organized the rest of the ingredients. This wasn't going to be instant hot chocolate, but the homemade kind. Yamato hadn't had that before, but he was looking forward to it. And hopefully it wouldn't take all that long to get ready, either. 

Yamato nodded, turning one cup so the handle could be taken from the outside. "It looks good on you." It wasn't quite to _his_ taste for hair. But a fact was a fact, and Mimi looked really good with pink hair. 

"Thanks." Mimi bustled around doing arcane things that even Yamato, with all of his cooking experience, couldn't identify just yet. It did involve chocolate and he saw a bag of mini marshmallows on the counter, so he presumed all was well. Whipping up delicious dinners was easily within his realm of expertise. Making hot chocolate he still hadn't quite caught the hang of. But he paid attention as she did it. The thought of handing Sora a cup of hot chocolate that _he_ had made from scratch one day was a very pleasant one indeed. Maybe they could even have some cookies to go with it. Who knew? 

"Could you hand me that spoon over there?" Mimi asked, flapping one hand in the general direction of a rack that held more spoons than even_his_ well-equipped kitchen had. He didn't ask any questions, though. As much as he wanted to learn how to cook on a professional level, he was almost afraid that she'd start answering them. 

Picking the one he thought she was pointing out, he handed it to her. "That is starting to smell really good," he said, taking in a deep breath of the melting chocolate. This was also looking more and more like a very good idea, hot chocolate after a romp in the snow. 

"It's about the only thing I can really cook," Mimi said, stirring the mixture carefully and with the kind of intensity he'd seen when Koushirou and Miyako were up to something on the computer: and almost nowhere else. "Michael taught me how to do it." 

Was that a hint of a blush? He thought it was, and grinned to himself. He wouldn't say anything about it. It wasn't his business for one thing. For another, what would he even be _able_ to say about it? Let them work things out for themselves. It had worked with himself and Sora. 

"Hey, what's taking so long with the hot chocolate?" Taichi whined from the other room. Yamato rolled his eyes. 

"Perfection takes time, you know!" Mimi shot back before Yamato could say anything else. "And I always make something perfect!" 

There were a few grumbles and a muttered phrase from Taichi that might possibly have referred to a cake she had tried to make for his birthday a couple of years earlier. Mimi and Yamato both ignored them as they finished up the hot chocolate and poured it neatly into each cup, then started to add a few marshmallows to each one. 

"There we go." Yamato smiled as he took his own cup and started to sip a little. It really was great. "I'm going to have to get the recipe from you, Mimi." 

"No problem!" Mimi smiled happily back at him. "It's really not that hard. I bet you could probably make it even better." 

Yamato just shrugged; it wouldn't hurt to experiment a little with it and see what he could make it do. But for now, it was good enough to taste what he had here, and then to carry the trays with the cups for everyone else to where they were waiting. One by one, the trays grew lighter with each cup removed, and the Chosen and their partners started to drink. Yamato sat down beside Sora and threw a warm smile over towards Mimi as he drank more of the chocolate. 

He loved vacations. 

**

The End

**


End file.
